Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Kim Challis, Managing Director of G4S Utility Services says since British Gas was already their largest customer, "We already deliver a wide variety of services to British Gas Business. This contract will make us a major meter operations service provider in the UK market at a key time."

British Gas Business Managing Director, Kanat Emiroglu, adds, "G4S Utility Services have delivered excellent service since they commenced delivering Smart electricity meter installations earlier this year. The awarding of this contract demonstrates the strength of our partnership with them." G4S Secure Solutions is the largest security solutions company in the UK and Ireland, serving more than 6,000 customers, including 59 FTSE 100 companies. In addition, G4S serves a majority of UK Government departments. For more information please visit www.g4s.com/uk. http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/1419-g4s-lands-smart-meter-deal-.html

Spot UK wholesale gas prices on Monday reached the highest level of 2010 as the key Day ahead contract traded at 57.25 pence per therm. This is the highest level since February 2009.

UK wholesale prices have been increasing in the past week because of a rapid rise in demand for gas triggered by falling temperatures. Demand for gas from local distribution zones, which includes residential heating, has more than doubled since the start of the month.

Monday's total demand was almost 26% higher than the normal level for this time of year. It was the highest demand for any day in November on record.

The Day-ahead price has increased by almost 29% since the start of November.

Demand stood at 432 million cubic metres on Monday morning. The normal level for this time of year is 344 million cubic metres. In November 2009, daily demand averaged 299 million cubic metres/ day.

Demand reached an all-time high earlier this year on 8 January at 465 million cubic metres.

Monday, 29 November 2010

Luton has been revealed as one of the UK's hotspots for a scam in which criminals offer cut-price energy to those with pre-payment meters.

A new report using data from leading energy suppliers, including British Gas and EDF Energy, says 1,500 households in Luton have fallen victim to a scam where they have bought pre-payment energy that doesn't exist.

Energy UK says the con is being carried out by organised criminal gangs, and are urging customers only to buy their electricity meter top-ups from the Post Office or official PayPoint or Payzone retailers.

A spokesman for Energy UK said: "The scam is of particular concern because to obtain the fake top-ups people must let the criminals into their homes to access their electricity meters.

"Reports of threatening behaviour from the perpetrators of the fraud have been received by some energy companies who are urging people to steer clear of those involved. Police have also made arrests in connection with this activity."

Thursday, 25 November 2010

A Pub has received an apology and a £2,000 refund on its bill after a clerical "oversight" by a water company. The Mason's Arms in Wadborough, near Pershore, will collect a water

rebate on a Severn Trent Water bill after an error was made in calculating the amount of surface water running from the property into the firm's drains. Severn Trent accepted it had made an error but would only refund the last six months' overpayment. But following a call from your Worcester News it is now repaying the amount back-dated to when the query was first raised in 2008. It comes as the company announced half-year pre-tax profits from April to Sept-ember (2010) of £272 million on turnover of £702 million. However, it has also said its customers have the lowest water bills nationally (falling by four per cent by 2015) and is investing £2.2 billion in its network over the same period. The pub is run by Rita and Barry Knight, who took over the lease in January 2008, and initially queried their £729 annual surface water charge, which excluded mains water charges. However, Mrs Knight said she didn't actually pursue Severn Trent until October this year when the firm then admitted its mistake. http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/local/8684935.__2k_refund_is_the_perfect_Christmas_gift/

Half-Year Results for the Six Months ended 30 September 2010 - Telecom Plus PLC (trading as the Utility Warehouse), which supplies a wide range of utility services (gas, electricity, fixed line telephony, mobile telephony and broadband internet) to both residential and business customers, announces half-year results for the six months ended 30 September 2010.

"Gas is going to continue to play a vital role in keeping the lights on," said energy minister Charles Hendry at the launch of a major new study into gas. Business Gas currently provides 50 per cent of the UK's primary energy and, as the cleanest fossil fuel, must remain central to the energy mix if the UK is to honour its 2020 commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 34 per cent on 1990 levels.

However, meeting the UK's energy security and climate change targets will be hugely challenging. North Sea gas reserves are in decline after four decades of production, and in 2004 the UK turned from being a net gas exporter to a net gas importer. It is likely to become increasingly reliant on gas imports in coming years, possibly importing 80 per cent of gas usage by 2020. Although the world has plentiful gas - enough for over 60 years of current demand, according to BP statistics - global demand is also rising, perhaps by 44 per cent by 2035, according to the International Energy Agency. This means the UK must do more to safeguard and diversify its gas supplies.

Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Nowadays the buzz words of the energy industry are "renewable energy". Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat. As you might have noticed some of the afore mentioned resources come from the Earth's biggest natural resources, the Oceans.

Power from the Ocean Oceans can produce different types of energy, including thermal energy from the sun's heat and mechanical energy from the action of waves and tides. Public and private institutions around the globe are investing big bucks to harness this energy resource in ways that are safe, sustainable and environmentally safe.

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

A delivery of liquefied natural gas to the U.K. from the U.S. last week was the first such consignment since 1959 and may mark the start of a new trade link between the markets, JPMorgan Cazenove said. The LNG tanker Maersk Meridian delivered an initial shipment of the fuel to the Isle of Grain terminal, east of London, from the Sabine Pass terminal in the U.S., National Grid Plc said Nov. 19. The fuel had been reloaded at the U.S. terminal, JPMorgan Cazenove analyst Fred Lucas said in a report dated yesterday. "Cargo reloading will create a physical link, albeit presently very thin, between the U.K. and U.S. gas markets," which were previously "isolated," he said. "If reloading volumes rise materially, this could enforce a tighter price spread between the U.K. and U.S. gas markets." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-23/u-s-to-u-k-lng-shipment-last-week-may-mark-new-trade-link-jpmorgan-says.html

Monday, 22 November 2010

Britain's biggest energy supplier has taken delivery of the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be re-exported from the United States to the UK. The Maersk Meridian tanker arrived at the Isle of Grain terminal near London on Thursday night, according to terminal operator National Grid, to deliver to Centrica, the owner of British Gas.

A spokesman for Centrica declined to say who the cargo was bought from or how much was paid for it.

The shale-gas saturated United States started re-exporting LNG to higher-paying markets in Asia, South America, and Spain earlier this year.

But the Meridian is the first to deliver to Britain super-cooled gas that had previously been imported to the United States, in response to a widening gulf between U.S. and UK prices.

Smart meter group BGlobal has hit installation problems with the total number of meters installed in the first half behind expectations. "The board is revising its installation expectations for the year downwards by 10% and anticipates that it will raise operating costs to ensure that it maintains and increases the current installation rate," it said. This "will impact on Bglobal Metering's contribution to group performance in FY11, it added. http://www.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/sharecast/story.cgi?story_id=3818326

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with her European Union counterpart, High Representative Catherine Ashton, in Lisbon Friday to discuss alternative ways to supply the EU with natural gas.

The EU is beholden to Russia for a significant chunk of its gas supply, and has been pushing for the development of a "Southern Corridor" to bring commercial gas from the Caspian Basin, Central Asia and the Middle East to the EU.

The meeting reviewed the principles of the Energy Security Working Group, a task force charged with reviewing arrangements for the management of emergencies in electricity, gas and liquid fuel markets. "We were encouraged by progress since the last meeting in the development of a Southern Corridor to diversify sources and routes to help meet Europe's long-term natural gas requirements," said Clinton, Ashton, and other principals in a statement after the meeting.

The statement also noted the June 7 signing of a gas transit and pricing agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan, which allowed producers and shippers to negotiate contracts to bring Caspian gas to European markets. The leaders also considered alternative, non-Caspian sources of gas for the Southern Corridor, such as Iraq. They called on Iraqi authorities to implement new hydrocarbon and revenue sharing agreements. http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/6614438

New energy statements are failing to make clear that some customers could save hundreds of pounds on fuel bills. The statements, which will be delivered to every UK home by the end of the year, will explain discounts available on a customer's current tariff. But they will fail to detail the savings that can be made by switching to an internet-based plan.

Figures show a difference of £239 between an online tariff and paying by cheque when a bill arrives.

Suppliers have been told by the regulator Ofgem to start sending out annual statements. They are intended to help consumers understand their energy use and what it is costing them. They should include information such as the name of a customer's tariff and a reminder that the customer can switch provider, along with advice on how to do so.

They must also point out any discounts that apply to the tariff the customer is on when compared with the same supplier's standard direct debit tariff.

This is the case as a business can be spending way too much on energy bills and by taking a little time to make office cut-backs they can significantly reduce the company's outgoings and also reduce the levels of carbon that your office is producing.

With this in mind, let's help you achieve this within your own company as here are some tips to help you minimise your energy consumption and just some pieces of advice to help you know about the process of investigating energy supplies.

1) Firstly, as the manager of the company you can sort out an audit of energy consumption. An audit involves an energy specialist coming to your business and assessing your energy needs and output levels. There are essentially three types of audits: there is the basic audit, the visual basic and the comprehensive. With one of these methods you could seriously cut-backs on office energy consumption.

Visual Inspection - This type of audit is the most cost-effective and it involves booking an appointment for a trained specialist to your building and performing a detailed visual inspection of your energy output. By doing this they can identify when an office is inefficiently using too much energy and will then be able to make suggestions on how to reduce energy levels.

Thursday, 18 November 2010

Last week, on November 12th, UK-based comparison website Moneysupermarket published its comments on the rises in gas and electricity prices in the country.

Customers of such companies as SSE and British Gas have already seen significant increases in their bills, whereas customers of other companies have not yet been "bitten" by cold winter changes.

Experts, however, believe that rates will be raised by all gas and electricity providers: "with hikes from both SSE and British Gas I would expect the other major providers to follow suit."

Mr. Byrom, energy manager at Moneysupermarket, is determined that UK consumers should consider switching from the expensive providers to those, who currently offer more or less attractive deals. This move is guaranteed to help people gain more control over their bills and expenditures.

Energy prices are going up. Both British Gas and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) are putting up their gas and electricity tariffs in December, and other major energy providers may follow suit soon. The companies have blamed a 25% increase in wholesale costs this year. But have wholesale prices gone up? And how does the wholesale price relate to the figure that appears on your energy bill? Gas prices graphs Is blaming the wholesale price justified? Wholesale prices With other costs to supply energy relatively fixed and constituting a small part of your overall energy bill, energy suppliers almost always cite wholesale prices as the reason behind a change in their tariffs. But at any one time there are many different wholesale prices, so to say they have gone up by 25% is meaningless. All of these wholesale prices have in fact gone up over the period quoted by SSE and British Gas. But anyone who knows anything about the energy market also knows that a wholesale price movement can be found to support pretty much any retail energy price change - whether up, down, big or small. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11767544

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

Coal in Europe is trading close to a two-year high as rising demand in China drives up prices around the world, making natural gas more attractive to U.K. and German utilities for producing power. Benchmark coal for delivery next month in northwest Europe reached $108.50 a metric ton yesterday, the highest level since Nov. 7, 2008, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. China faces "a moderate shortage" of the fuel that generates 80 percent of its electricity after temperatures fell below freezing earlier than usual this year, New York-based Commodore Research said on Nov. 15. "Coal prices are now completely driven by Asian demand, and European utilities have to accept that price," said Emmanuel Fages, a Paris-based analyst at Societe Generale. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-17/coal-s-two-year-high-may-force-european-utility-gas-switch-energy-markets.html

Energy costs represent one of the biggest slices in the expenditures pie of any given business, be it small, medium or large sized companies, a well planed energy management plan can help save money and reduce end costs. With that mindset, the objective of this article is highlight energy management solutions that can help businesses save thousands of pounds and reduce their carbon footprint at the same time.

First step is to choose the right energy supplier, one that offers an energy contract that will best suit your business needs. As the UK energy market grows more complex, the independent advice offered by energy brokers and consultants can help you choose the right energy supplier. The catch here is to find an energy consultancy firm rather than trying to do the job in-house. A 'fresh pair of eyes', with relevant experience of achieving tangible results in other organisations, can often uncover areas for significant improvement that may not have been previously identified. http://www.alternativeenergyalaska.com/renewable-energy-brokers/

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Russian energy company Gazprom plans to hire hundreds more staff at its UK-based Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T) arm in the long term, a spokeswoman for the company said on Monday.

The Financial Times said on Monday that the downstream trading arm of the Russian gas export monopoly could hire up to 600 more staff, on top of its current workforce of around 300, in the next few years.

"We are looking to recruit," the spokeswoman said, adding the company had big long-term expansion plans and was set to move into much larger offices in London.

Monday, 15 November 2010

Heavier reliance on gas and less dependence on renewables, coal and nuclear could save Britain £700bn over the next 50 years, according to the Energy Networks Association. New research found that if gas can be "cleaned" by capturing its carbon dioxide emissions and pumping them underground, it would be a much cheaper option. The industry group, which represents Britain's transmission companies, said gas requires less new power generation capacity and infrastructure than other sources of energy. Billions of pounds will need to be spent on making the UK's networks fit for nuclear power and more renewable energy. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8130075/Dash-for-gas-could-save-UK-700bn-say-ENA.html

Renewable energy market specialist VNCS is meeting eager investors at Clean Tech World 2010 next week following the announcement of its deal with a major US engineering specialist to deliver by the third quarter 2011 a new, double-output generation of wind turbines: fully optimised Multi Rotor 500KWh and 1.5MWh Energy Towers. The VNCS team managed to secure a deal last week with the US manufacturer Ajax Tocco Magnethermic, a subsidiary of the $1b t/o Park Ohio Holdings Corporation, (Nasdaq PKOH), for the joint development of the Energy Tower technology on a global basis. The operation will trade as Viridis Navitas Service Supply in the UK and Belgium. http://www.pressdispensary.co.uk/feed/992858.php

As a market leading energy broker we have noticed that the current generation is more committed to discovering and reducing its carbon footprint than ever before. But despite this growing awareness and our need to conserve and reduce our energy consumption, there is one thing that has changed our lifestyle, and increased our energy consumption like nothing else we have ever seen before. Facebook, the social networking site accounted for 1 in every 10 internet visits in September - up 4% from the same month last year, now overtaking popular search engines such as Google in the rankings.

Facebook And Rising Energy Prices Astonishingly Facebook now attracts 55% of all visits to social networking sites but others such as Twitter, Linkedin and Tumblr have seen visits at least double in the last 12-months, a recent report suggested.

Friday, 12 November 2010

British Gas customers will face a 7% rise in gas and electricity bills this winter, the company has announced.

The increase, which comes into effect on 10 December, was the result of rising wholesale prices, it said. The rise affects eight million customers, but the company added that its 300,000 most vulnerable customers would initially not be charged more.

British Gas has become the second major UK energy supplier to announce price increases for the winter months.

It said that wholesale gas prices had risen by 25% since the spring.

"We know that rising energy prices come at a difficult time for many," said British Gas managing director Phil Bentley.

The company said prices for those on a typical dual-fuel deal would go up by £1.50 a week.

Vulnerable customers on the "Essentials" package with British Gas will have prices held until 1 April 2011.

British gas and electricity demand appears to have bottomed out, but there has been no rebound in consumption since the recession-led slide of late 2008-early 2009, National Grid said on Thursday. "We have bottomed out but there is no spectacular sign of recovery," a spokesman for the power and gas network operator told Reuters.

Demand for gas from the power sector has increased slightly because of several new gas fired power plants being started up in 2010, the spokesman said. But once the effect on heating demand during last winter -- one of the coldest on record -- is removed, demand for gas and electricity from the start of April 2010 to the end of October 2010 is in line with demand for both from April-October 2009.

The European Union has unveiled plans for a single European energy market, a 1 trillion-euro ($1.38 trillion) strategy to achieve energy security and cut fossil fuel emissions. The 10-year plan would include upgrades to the continent's aging pipelines and build infrastructure that allows energy to flow across borders from one end of Europe to the other. The new system also will help the expansion of renewable energy supplies across the continent, the EU said. "Looking at our network for gas, oil and electricity, we are all still stuck within the borders of the 19th century principalities," Guenther Oettinger, the EU's energy chief, told reporters. Within five years, he said, no European nation should be isolated from its neighbors. Without a single market, he added, the EU will not be able to meet its goals of cutting carbon emissions 20 percent by 2020 or improving energy efficiency by 20 percent. EU officials say detailed legislation should emerge over the next 18 months. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS85010938920101111

Are you always surprised after seeing the amount charged on your business gas bill and wonder what is it you're doing wrong? Are you worried that despite being careful about not wasting energy, you end up having to pay large bills? If so, here are some things you might want to look into:

1) Do you have many old equipment at your business or office? Equipment and appliances weren't as energy efficient even a few decades ago as they tend to be these days. Therefore, if you have one of those age-old air conditioners, refrigerators, or washing machines, you might want to consider replacing them with ones that are more energy efficient. Even simple things such as an old battery in the cell phone or a laptop that needs constant recharging could add to your expenses.

A single energy market would be good for consumers, the environment and security OIL and gas are being drained from under the North Sea. But its time as Europe's energy reservoir is not over. Along its shores and on its waters, thousands of turbines are being built to harness the winds. Next month ministers from ten countries will sign a pact to start work on an underwater electrical grid to link up these disparate projects. When one place is becalmed, a gale may be howling in another; when the turbines are churning out surplus electricity, hydroelectric stations in Norway can switch into reverse to become giant batteries.

This offshore grid is the germ of a big dream: a Europe-wide system of electricity highways. If it makes sense in the North Sea, it makes even more for wind and solar power from Spain and, one day, solar energy from the Sahara desert. And as well as Norwegian reservoirs, why not store power in existing Alpine valleys? This would reduce the need for more power stations to balance the spikes and troughs of renewables. Moreover if producers could trade energy over the grid in a single market, the benefits could be bigger still. European officials reckon energy savings of some 20-25% would be possible.

Thursday, 11 November 2010

An increase in financial, reputational and legislative risks associated with business usage of energy means organisations need to put in place effective plans now to reduce their exposure to future risks. This is the key finding of a new white paper published today, Energy Risk Management for UK Business, commissioned by npower from the London School of Economics.

The white paper follows statistics in the latest npower Business Energy Index, which revealed that businesses rank energy as posing greater risk to them than health and safety, credit and security. They scored energy 6 out of 10 in terms of level of risk it poses; this was in contrast to the highest risk which was legislation, scoring 6.7 out of 10.

To address this concern and to stress the importance of immediate action, the white paper provides a guide to current energy risks and forecasts how they will grow in the future. It concludes by urging businesses to ensure energy is a board-level consideration and to control their exposure to risk by working in a collaborative manner internally - by combining the energy management and procurement processes.

The paper also looks at how the role of energy suppliers is changing. No longer can they simply supply energy; they now need to help businesses to manage their consumption and procure energy in as cost-effective way as possible, to ensure their survival. It concludes by highlighting the role that energy suppliers now need to play is as a consultant to help organisations manage energy risks. http://www.clickgreen.org.uk/analysis/business-analysis/121630-energy-risks-for-business-set-to-increase,-reveals-new-white-paper.html

Last week Ofgem quietly announced on its website the details of expenditures on external energy consultants. In just six months the energy regulator spent over £5m on new green taxes and incentives that ranged from feed-in-tariffs to smart meters.

Ofgems expenditure Ofgem has an annual budget of £50m, if spending continues at the same rate by the end of the year the amount spent with external consultants will account for 20% of its total budget.

To administer environmental programmes and sustainability projects Ofgem created a special unit called, Ofgem E-Serve. The "E" stands for Environment, Energy and Efficiency. The new unit has used external consultants on 63 different occasions between April and September this year accounting for the total sum of £5m.

The energy statistics organisation has previously predicted an abundance of gas for five years due to new "shale" reserves being exploited in the US and the growing ability of gas companies to ship the fuel in liquefied form (LNG). However, the IEA now believes the glut could last a decade and keep prices lower for longer. There will be an oversupply of about 200bn extra cubic metres next year, up from 130bn cubic metres this year, it said. This is likely to reduce prices as a greater range of sources will loosen the grip of the traditional gas producers, such as Gazprom, which insist on long-term contracts with customers. These are linked to the oil price, which is increasing and has decoupled from the gas price. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8121129/Gas-prices-to-remain-depressed-for-another-decade.html

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Software start-up ENXSuite released an updated version of its energy-management software on Monday.

ENXSuite is one of many companies trying to bring stricter accounting to costs related to natural resources. The company's software enables businesspeople, either financial executives or sustainability officers, to track usage of electricity, gas, water, waste or greenhouse gases. Once that data is collected, people can create models to make decisions on energy-efficiency initiatives.

The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), in a press release issued by the association, has officially protested the United Kingdom's announcement by the government to use Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme to support public finances.

The move is part of the British Government's comprehensive spending review.

BMRA's statement claims that revenue for the scheme was to be used to recognize reductions in carbon emissions. The BMRA states that the change effectively makes the scheme an additional tax on business that will raise £1 billion (US$1.585 billion) per year and remove an incentive to improving energy efficiency.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

British business gas prices fell on Tuesday due to low export demand and ample liquefied natural gas (LNG) and storage, which helped bring prices down despite higher heating demand from cold weather.

Gas for December eased 0.20 pence at 45.70 pence per therm ($7.37 per mmbtu) at 1015 GMT while gas for delivery on Wednesday slipped 0.40 pence at 45.90 pence compared with day-ahead prices in the previous session.

Traders said the spread between prompt and front-month prices meant the market expected storage to withdrawal to satisfy demand, as well as LNG terminals having the option to turn up to add to supply.

"It's moved lower again from yesterday. We have high demand again today, but again weak European prices. We're quite easily able to cope. The prompt can only rally so much before storage will turn on," one energy broker said.

German energy group E.ON is in talks to sell its electricity distribution network in the UK for up to £3.5bn. E.ON is believed to be in advanced negotiations with a group of foreign investors over the deal, which could see a change of hands for Britain's second biggest power grid - providing electricity to more than five million homes. It is thought the bidding consortium comprises sovereign wealth fund the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Canadian Pension Plan and Australian Bank Macquarie. Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/business-news/energy-group-in-talks-over-network-sale-14999211.html?r=RSS#ixzz14mY6E1TX

Monday, 8 November 2010

Thames Water has had to pay customers £60,000 in compensation after it discovered an unmanned inbox containing thousands of emailed complaints and comments.

It was one of a number of water companies identified by Ofwat as not meeting industry performance standards due to email-related issues.

According to Ofwat's latest report, 'Service and delivery - performance of water companies in England and Wales 2009-10', Thames Water reported to the regulator that it had discovered an email inbox containing nearly 4,000 unread customer emails. The emails dated as far back as 31 March 2003.

Some of the UK's most famous royal palaces are to get a "green makeover", with thousands of square metres of loft insulation installed to cut carbon and save on energy bills. Hampton Court Palace, the spectacular home of Henry VIII, will be the main focus of the scheme to improve the energy efficiency of three sites managed by the Historic Royal Palaces charity.

Neither company has revealed the number of shares purchased or at what price, but the two companies have been in partnership since 2008 via joint venture IECHP, to which both IE and SSE also committed further investment yesterday.

IECHP has been developing fuel cell combined heat and power (CHP) systems for the residential, commercial and light industrial markets in the UK and Ireland, funded by an initial £1.3m investment.

Both parties agreed to make a further series of investments once certain undisclosed milestones were reached. IE said that IECHP had now surpassed these requirements, triggering a further £2.7m of funding, which included a tranche from Scottish Enterprise.

Dr Mark Lawson-Statham, board member of IECHP, said the cash injection would allow the company to accelerate its expansion.

"The further investment from SSE and IEH serves to underscore the strong commitment of both companies to bring clean CHP technologies to the market," he said. "We are also delighted to be able to welcome Scottish Enterprise as a shareholder and look forward to playing a central role in the development of the hydrogen economy in Scotland."

Ian Marchant, chief executive of SSE said both investments were in line with the company's policy of developing sustainable energy in conjunction with specialist partners, such as the technology-sharing agreement it signed with Mitsubishi earlier this year.

"This investment is further evidence of our support for new technology development through investment and strategic partnerships with leading players in the clean technology sector," he said.

Thursday, 4 November 2010

A new EU directive has banned the use and production of traditional style filament light bulbs, businesses across the continent and in the UK are looking for alternative lighting solutions. With the advancement in commercial LED lighti ng, the technology has been gaining in popularity thanks to an array of benefits over incandescent and halogen light bulbs.

Nowadays LED lights are available in all forms of traditional lighting and can be used for indoor or outdoor business lighting. LED lighting not only reduces energy consumption considerably but they also have a much longer life span than traditional light bulbs, which could bring a reduction in annual maintenance cost of between 70% to 90%.

Energy consultants and energy management experts state that energy efficiency is the biggest step businesses can take towards reducing their CO2 consumption and carbon footprint. Investing in LED lighting should be considered as a long term investment that will bring significant long term savings for your business. There is even a scheme from the Carbon Trust that allows you to obtain an interest free loan to invest in commercial LED lighting, contact your energy consultancy firm and they will assist you in obtaining this interest free loan.

When Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu talks about energy efficiency, he has been known to repeat this mantra: "Energy efficiency is not just low-hanging fruit; it is fruit lying on the ground."

As Director of Energy for a large corporation like AT&T, I must admit that my first reaction is slightly defensive: "Wait a minute, it's not that easy." However, the essence of what Secretary Chu is saying is absolutely true. Effective energy management helps reduce a company's environmental impact and benefits the company's bottom line. Below, I have outlined 10 ways that a company can be effective in improving its energy management and efficiency.

1. Establish benchmarks ... then measure, measure, measure. The old adage is true: "You cannot manage what you do not measure." Measuring your organization's energy use is the first step to reducing it. At AT&T, we consolidated our company-wide energy use data into a centralized data system. This consolidation allows us to better track and manage our energy use, as well as hold people more accountable, by increasing visibility in the way we use energy.

Prices for gas in the UK firmed yesterday, on Tuesday November 2nd as the weather became colder and demand from consumers increased. This fact also coincided with a decrease in supply from Norway, which contributed to further growth in gas prices.

As such, imports of gas from Norway fell to 60 million cubic meters per day since the last lot was delivered on Friday, October 29th.

According to estimates, gas scheduled for delivery today, on November 3rd, was priced at 45.8 pence per therm, which is 0.9 pence up.

A separate report suggests that UK consumers will face a 9.4% increase in gas bills as Scottish & Southern Energy, one of the cheapest energy suppliers in UK, plans to raise prices and its competitors are expected to follow the suit. Those, who want to compare gas price s, should know that approximately £70 will be added to an average annual gas bill.

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Monday, 1 November 2010

David Cameron has been urged by MPs to experiment with extending British Summer Time (BST) through the winter to save money and energy for homes and businesses across the UK.

Tim Yeo, chairman of the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee, issued the call last week after hearing evidence from experts at Cambridge University and National Grid.

"There is a real head of steam building up behind this proposal in Parliament now - and it's due to be voted on in December," he said. "I am calling on the government to launch a full-scale trial. Until we do this we will all be in the dark about whether this idea really could help us to meet our climate change targets without costing the taxpayer a penny."

The call throws weight behind the daylight saving bill, tabled by by Conservative MP Rachel Harris, which is due to have its second reading on 3 December.

Researchers at Cambridge University told the Energy and Climate Change Committee that the UK could save up to 447,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually by better aligning the waking hours of the UK population with the daylight available. Researchers said the savings would be equivalent to taking 172,000 cars off the road.

Officials from National Grid added that the measure could potentially ease the UK's path to producing 15 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020, because extending BST would flatten peak demand.

UK spot power prices eased Monday due to lower UK gas prices and warm temperatures, while an outage at the 450 MW Heysham 1-2 nuclear reactor Monday lent a bit of support to prices by late morning, said sources.

UK OTC baseload power for next-day delivery was assessed at GBP43.25/MWh by 12:00 London time, down GBP1 from where Monday was assessed on Friday.

Peakload traded at GBP48/MWh a few minutes before 12:00, after most volumes went for GBP47/MWh, said a source.

On the N2EX wholesale power exchange, day-ahead base cleared at GBP43.31/MWh, in line with OTC.

"It's bearish on the gas and the warm weather...there's nothing that could make the price go up at the moment," a trader said. "The Heysham 1-2 outage was too late to have any significant impact on the day-ahead, although the price came up by end of play."

UK gas prices were bearish Monday due to lower Continental demand and a well-supplied system, said traders. Within-day gas was down 1.95 pence/therm to 44.75 p/therm, while day-ahead was down by a less significant 0.45 p/therm, at 45.05 p/therm.

Temperatures in London will remain above the seasonal average this week, peaking at 6 degrees Celsius above the norm Thursday, according to CustomWeather.